I was at the airport this morning when a problem which I am sure is familiar to many people cropped up. I needed to contact someone urgently but his contact was on a namecard in my office and had not been updated into my mobile’s contact list as yet, a tedious process which I think many of us are guilty of neglecting. I had his email but there was no guarantee he would read his emails that early in the morning, and his email signature did not have his mobile or skype ID.
After solving the problem in a very circuitous manner (called my colleague in the US who happened to have his number and fortunately it wasn’t so late on the West Coast yet), it got me to wondering why we even still have phone numbers. The phone number was a unique identifier in the days when it was impractical to use characters in such an identifier. The physical limitation led to numbers being used.
Today, nearly everyone has an email account and most if not all use VOIP services like Skype, WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, etc….that are linked to these accounts. Through the 4G services I signed up for (along with my mobile number), I make calls to my colleagues, clients, stakeholders, etc…internationally and sometimes even locally through these services instead of through the mobile service. The need to have a mobile or telephone number is no longer necessary.
Telcos remain the biggest barrier to change due to the large amounts of money they make from mobile and telephone services (excluding mobile data). They haven’t figured out how to monetize a service should all of us start to use free VOIP services such as Skype hence are not willing to change the status quo. Instead small startups are forcing this change on them through services that enable consumers and businesses to bypass the exorbitant rates telco’s charge.
In my opinion, telcos in Singapore should actively encourage the use of such free VOIP services and revise their service packages accordingly. The total amount a consumer pays need not necessarily be lower as there might be additional frills added such as larger bandwidth if using certain VOIP services, but it also means that telcos no longer need to maintain archaic equipment and can focus on expanding and improving their mobile data infrastructure.
At the same time, telcos should take a leaf out of the book of airlines and form global alliances where the cost of mobile data is far lower for roaming customers than it is today. While I appreciate that the cost of providing mobile data services vary from country to country, it is quite unlikely to be as high as is currently charged to customers who wish to use their mobile services overseas. In this time of stiff competition in the telco sector, an alliance that offers almost the same mobile data rates in various key countries would be a sure winner.
On the argument that such free VOIP services may start to charge once phone numbers disappear, the truth is that the technology enabling such services has already been commoditised and anyone who begins charging will simply see their company slowly disappear. A decade or so ago, there was only Skype and a few smaller players. Today, we dont just have Skype but also behemoths like WhatsApp and WeChat which can easily take up the slack if Skype were to start charging. There are also smaller players like Line, Nanu, etc… Perhaps if a telco alliance is formed, it can develop its own services that have dedicated bandwidth for its customers?
Telcos should really start to look at the startup environment which proliferates with companies that offer solutions and services in this space. Some are even leveraging and exploring Wireless Mesh Networking which will use each connected device as a node without the need for a telco to provide the link to the internet. However, such solutions are in the future, when the hardware can catch up. However, when it does so, we may one day find that there is no need for a Singtel or M1 or Starhub to provide us with mobile/internet services.
Some Meowsings...... 